6 FARTHEST NORTH 



centuries elapsed before explorers once more sought the 

 northern seas. Then it was other nations, especially 

 the Dutch and the English, that led the van. The 

 sober observations of the old Northmen were forgot- 

 ten, and in their stead we meet with repeated in- 

 stances of the attraction of mankind towards the most 

 fantastic ideas ; a tendency of thought that found ample 

 scope in the regions of the north. When the cold 

 proved not to be absolutely deadly, theories flew to the 

 opposite extreme, and marvellous were the erroneous 

 ideas that sprang up and have held their own down 

 to the present da}^ Over and over again it has been 

 the same — the most natural explanation of phenomena 

 is the very one that men have most shunned ; and, if 

 no middle course was to be found, they have rushed 

 to the wildest hypothesis. It is only thus that the be- 

 lief in an open polar sea could have arisen and held 

 its ground. Though everywhere ice was met with, peo- 

 ple maintained that this open sea must lie behind the 

 ice. Thus the belief in an ice-free northeast and north- 

 west passage to the wealth of Cathay or of India, first 

 propounded towards the close of the 15th century, 

 cropped up again and again, only to be again and again 

 refuted. Since the ice barred the southern regions, the 

 way must lie farther north ; and finally a passage over 

 the Pole itself was sought for. Wild as these theories 

 were, they have worked for the benefit of mankind ; for 

 by their means our knowledge of the earth has been 



